


a neighbourhood of strangers

by grandmas_ghost (nap_princess)



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Bad Ending, Cafe AU, F/M, Gen, I wrote this fic for me but y'all can read it if you want, Juvia my Queen, Lisanna my Queen, Memes, Modern AU, consensual doing the do, nali brotp, plot over romance, school au, this fic is more about wilting friendships than romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 13:43:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14853879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nap_princess/pseuds/grandmas_ghost
Summary: For ten years, he was her best friend and then one day he wasn't / My everyday reminder, walking by your house, that I'm the outsider in your crowd. When you had the choice, you chose someone else– Nali BROTP if you squint, falling apart best friend AU, Lisanna-centric





	a neighbourhood of strangers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I Don't Want To Know](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/387875) by Sigrid. 



> * * *
> 
> Look at the meme I linked, omg, I'm not taking my own angst seriously. I'm using memes for goodness sakes! This has less angst than I would like.

  **a neighbourhood of strangers**

* * *

 My everyday reminder, walking by your house, that I'm the outsider in your crowd

– **Sigrid** , _I don't want to know_

* * *

The small bell above the diner door chimes as Natsu Dragneel rushes into the familiar place. The diner smells strongly of bacon and fried eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice, and Natsu almost trips and falls over his untied laces as his sneakers pat against the tiled floor. He spots his best friend sitting at their usual booth before he even stepped into the building but he's still blown away by how she gets there on time.

"You're early!" Natsu gasps, panting hard. He ran all the way here after misplacing the key to his bike's lock.

"No, you're just late." Lisanna Strauss says, looking up from her _Tamagotchi_. If she wasn't in the middle of a game, she would have squinted her blue eyes in amusement at his blinking green ones.

They're twelve and have known each other since forever.

She asks "Did you forget?" as Natsu slides into the booth and sits across from her.

"I would never forget our Saturday tradition." Natsu says defensively and grabs one of the menu for show of his slight irritation. He scans the words and pictures of breakfast options before saying, "And if there's anyone here who's forgetful, it's you. You can't even remember your own birthday."

Lisanna only rolls her eyes in response as soon as she pauses her _Tamagotchi_. "That's because it's in the middle of Summer and nothing ever happens so it just blends in and turns into 'another' Summer day."

Natsu scoffs but continues reading the menu anyways.

Days like these, Saturdays, are usually spent eating breakfast at the _Yellow_ diner then a trip to the arcade while they're still energy-filled. Lunch is followed shortly after hours spent playing games, usually at a bakery that makes honey glazed baked goods and sweet treats, or at a café that served fancy grilled sandwiches and frothy milkshakes, and finally finishing the day off with a movie. All in all, it was a day spent completely together.

Reasonably speaking, it can't be expected for the pair of best friends to hang out _every_ Saturday. Not with tests and final assignments coming to its eminent due date around April. Not with the start of Summer saved for family visits and plans elsewhere. Not when taking into consideration other holidays too.

So their little Saturday tradition became spaced out after much trial and error, starting from the end of Summer, September, and ending in March. With the exception of the Saturday on the week of Lisanna's birthday in the middle of Summer.

It was a plan that they talked about at age ten then confirmed at age eleven and they intended to keep it.

"You should learn to be on time," Lisanna says then jokes, "What if I leave you one day because of it?"

"Ugh, you're only on time because you wake up so early." Natsu Dragneel groans. "I can't believe your day starts at eight AM _every_ day!"

"I wake up before eight, actually. I just don't bother rolling out of bed until it's eight on the dot." Lisanna says.

"On the weekends and Summer time too?" Natsu asks, pulling a face. Though the expression he makes tells Lisanna he doesn't want to know.

Regardless, Lisanna answers, "Yeah,"

"That's just crazy! I'd just roll back and fall asleep!"

"Shut up, it's not my fault I like starting my day early." She says then puts the menu down. "So what do you want to eat for breakfast?"

"The usual." He says with a playful shrug.

"Pancakes?" Lisanna guesses, though she doesn't need to. "With peanut butter."

"And bacon."

"And blueberries." Lisanna answers, she can't help but laugh at the strange order.

"Syrup and whip cream too!" Natsu smiles back and soon he's laughing too.

Maybe over time they'll grow tired of waking up early and eating diner pancakes. Maybe one day Natsu will finally stop willingly spend money to win plushies for Lisanna at the arcade. Maybe one day the movies would run out of things to entertain them. But for now, they aren't and that's what mattered.

* * *

They're thirteen and hanging out at the Strauss's living room when Lisanna suddenly shouts, "Oh my God, Natsu come quick, that stray cat Happy is outside our window!"

"Holy shit! I'm coming!" Natsu practically yells then races to the window, only to bump his hip against the coffee table. The sound of the shifting table scares Happy off and Natsu crumples to the ground in pain. He exclaims, "I've been shot!"

"You scared Happy away!" Lisanna gasps.

"I've been shot!" Natsu repeats, hands on his hip. That was going to bruise.

"Stop yelling, I'm trying to finish this essay and you two are being too loud!" Elfman screams from his room. "And, Lissy, stop referring to everything we own to Natsu's stuff too! Our family owns the window, it's our house, you and Natsu don't own it!"

"But Natsu's spent so much time here that he's practically part of the family, Elfman!" Mirajane's voice comes into the conversation. "All we're missing is the official adoptive paper then we're good to go!"

* * *

"Don't you like Lisanna?" Gray Fullbuster asks, walking along with his bike at a slow pace. It's evening, close to dinner time with the setting sun and fading sky. They're fourteen and, yes, boys do have talks like these.

"What? No. Ew." Natsu answers, shivering at that thought. "Lisanna's my _best friend_! She's like a sister to me."

"Aw, come on. You can tell me if you do. I told you about Erza." Gray says, his ears slightly red as he spoke these words.

At this, Natsu kicks Gray's bike – _hard_. He repeats himself, "Lisanna's my **best friend**. What don't you understand about that?"

"Everything really,"

"Ugh. How would you like it if I said you had a crush on Lyon all this time and that you should make out with him because, apparently, all this time, he's not just your 'best friend' but actually your 'soulmate' or something?"

Gray pulls a face at Natsu's clever rewording. "First of all, you know I'm straight as a pole. Even if I'd try anything, Lyon would be the last person I'd make out with. And, secondly ..." Gray trails off, his puffed up chest deflating. "Secondly, Lyon and I aren't best friends anymore."

Natsu pauses, taking the information in. He asks, "Aw, dude, what happened?"

Gray's answer comes slow. He shrugs, now looking at the gravel and the tires his bicycle wheels over crunch along. "Stuff, I guess. That's why I'm hanging out with you and the boys more."

"I'm sorry." Natsu apologizes, sincerely.

"Things happen." Gray replies, lifting a shoulder once again. "Anyways, are you sure about you and Lisanna not possibly being a thing?"

" **Very sure.** Saying I like Lisanna is like saying I like Mira." Natsu says, sticking a tongue out in disgust.

"And what's wrong with that?" Gray says, snapping back to his boyish-self. "Mirajane-senpai is hot!"

"She's also like my sister, you dingus! Do you even have a brain?" Natsu snaps, not even a trace of a blush on his cheeks. He means it and he means it well.

He knows they're just kids but he stands by what he says.

And if anyone ever dares him to do something dumb like kiss Lisanna to prove some stupid point then he'd rather make out with his own left foot because they're just friends. _Best friends._ Girls and boys can be best friends. Screw anyone's sexist ideology that they can't be.

* * *

"Thank you so much, Juvia!" Lisanna says after opening Juvia Lockser's birthday gift to her – a cute pair of cat earrings. It's August the 27th and Lisanna is celebrating her sixteenth birthday.

The surprise birthday party genuinely manage to surprise Lisanna due to her habit of forgetting her own birthday.

"You're welcome!" Juvia perks up with a smile before letting Natsu walk up to Lisanna with his own gift.

"Birth, Lissy." Was all Natsu said as he took Lisanna hand and placed his gift on her open palm. The box was small, the kind you'd expect jewellery to be boxed in.

"Thank." Lisanna snorts, just as comically, smiling at him

"You're," He could keep this up all day.

Lisanna only shakes her head then turned back to the present. Her blue eyes looked at the present with caution. It was feather light and small. Lisanna couldn't help but raise a brow at Natsu when she caught him smiling impossibly wide. She asks, "What are you planning?"

Lisanna notes her siblings, parents and several other birthday guests taking interest in Natsu's gift too.

"Open it." Is all he says.

And she does just that after tearing off the wrapping off. Inside sits a single piece of paper with a picture printed on it. Lisanna swears Natsu almost lost his composure when she pulled the paper out and read it.

This pink haired _fucker_ had printed a meme and gifted it to her. It was that damn _Spongebob_ scene where a yellow fish with purple fins and green pants presented his significant other with an empty box saying "I could afford a present this year, so I got you this box".

" _Boi!_ " Cana Alberona exclaims, her own grin spreading on her face.

Crushing the paper in her hand, Lisanna was torn between _laughing her ass off_ or being  damn ready to _whoop Natsu's ass_ for the ridiculous meme.

But before Lisanna could make a choice, Natsu raises a hand and choked out a "Wait, I do have a real gift for you" through his laughter. Pulling out a similar box from the back pocket of his jeans, Natsu presented Lisanna a necklace that seemed to have matched the earrings Juvia had given to her earlier.

This time, Lisanna does burst out laughing from the idiocy of it all.

Juvia announces, "Natsu-san and Juvia thought we'd split the cost and get Lisanna-san a nice jewellery set." But then the blue haired girl pulls a quizzical face and says, "Though Juvia didn't expect the meme."

"You have to admit, it was funny though." Elfman speaks up.

"It was." Natsu answers, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to make Lisanna laugh on her birthday."

"Awww," Mirajane coos. "I second that. As long as she's happy on her birthday, that's all that matters."

"Of course," Natsu says, voice suddenly serious. "I would never make you cry, Lissy."

* * *

 Enter right, scene seventeen – New girl Lucy Heartfilia who's funny and lovely and kind.

Enter left, scene seventeen – A very smitten Natsu Dragneel.

* * *

"Lissy!" Natsu yells all the way from the other side of the hall as soon as he spots his best friend among the sea of teenagers. He races to her while still yelling, "LissyLissyLISSY!"

"Whatwhatwhat?" Lisanna answers back, parroting Natsu's tone as she turns away from her locker.

"I think I fucked up!" He says, standing before her.

"You mean like in an essay or a pop quiz or ...?" Lisanna asks.

Natsu shakes his head in return, moving so fast that it seemed like his face was having a weird seizure. "I asked Lucy Heartfilia out –"

"Oh my God!" Lisanna squeals, blue eyes sparkling the same way Mirajane's does when Mirajane talks about her ships becoming canon.

"– and she said 'yes'," Natsu finishes his sentence.

"OH MY GOD!" Lisanna squeals louder, now bouncing around in joy. "I'm so happy for you!" Natsu's been talking about Lucy for two months straight and this is one heck of a magical moment!

"No, Lissy, this is _bad_! **I asked my crush out!** " Natsu stresses. "I didn't think this would go through! I didn't think this far! I aimed to get rejected so I could move on with my life or, I don't know, grow old and lonely and spend all my money on feeding pigeons like those sad old geezers in romance movies!"

"Natsu, calm down!" Lisanna laughs, easing him. "Lucy agreed to go on a date with you because she likes you too. I know you'll do everything in your power to make sure the date goes smoothly. Breathe, it's going to be fine!"

"Holy shit, the date!" Natsu suddenly exclaims, realizing something.

"Yeah –"

"No, the _actual_ date, Lissy!" Natsu panics, hands in his hair. "I didn't tell Lucy the date or time or place or how I would pick her up. I just froze then picked my jaw off the ground and ran all the way here when she said 'yes'!"

"You ran away from her after she agreed? Are you –" Lisanna sputters. "You're an idiot!"

"I'm an idiot!" Natsu agrees. "BRB!" And with that, Natsu turned around and ran back the direction he came.

* * *

"Hi, Lucy." Lisanna greets the moment she walks into the reception office, hot pink, cat-themed sneakers slapping on the floor.

"Hi!" Lucy greets back, looking up from her seat. Her brown eyes are warm and crinkling as she watches Lisanna sit down beside her. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

 _Gosh, Lucy's so nice. Natsu's lucky to have her._ Lisanna thinks then answers, "Oh, you know, busy with Senior year. I have to keep my grade up while balancing my club activities and finishing my application for college."

Lucy nods, "I understand, Life gets too hectic at times. I wished I could freeze time and take a breather but I can't."

Lisanna laughs. "I'm just glad I'm so busy that I barely have time to think. I think if I had time to pause, I'd get too overwhelmed by the seer realization and have a mental break down."

"Been there, it sucks." Lucy answers.

Aw damn, Lucy was relatable too? No wonder Lucy and Natsu had become girlfriend-boyfriend a month after their first date.

"Hang in there, Lissy." Lucy says, raising a hand to give Lisanna an encouraging first bump.

"Lissy?" Lisanna echoes, not returning the first bump.

"Oh, is it not okay to call you that?" Lucy asks. "Natsu always refers to you as 'Lissy' so I just said it without thinking."

Lisanna waves her hands, "Oh, no, it's fine. I just didn't expect you to call me that."

"Phew, I'm glad!" Lucy jokes, hand now resting on her chest. "You can call me 'Luce' if you want or 'Lu-chan', Natsu and Levy-chan calls me that."

"Um," Lisanna hums for a moment. She likes Lucy. Likes her a lot, actualy. But Lisanna doesn't think she's at a certain level of friendship with the blonde girl to be calling Lucy by such nicknames. Though Lucy didn't have any qualms calling Lisanna by hers. Lisanna says after thinking, "I'll ... I'll stick to 'Lucy', I just think it rolls off the tongue better."

"Okie dokie," Lucy smiles. She opens her mouth to say more but then the receptionist calls her and she flashes Lisanna an apologetic look. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"No, it's okay." Lisanna shakes her head then gives Lucy a friendly grin, "See you later!"

Lucy echoes cheerily, "See you later, alligator!"

* * *

"Hi." Lucy greets as she stands before Natsu and his friends' lunch table. Her sudden appearance causes Natsu and Lisanna's conversation to come to a halt and for Juvia and Cana to pause their meal.

Despite Natsu and Lucy being a thing, they weren't the type to be all over each other like most couples in high school. They had their own separate group of friends and sat at different tables during lunch and rarely interrupted the other's time with friends in respect to the 'bros before hoes' and 'chicks before dicks' code.

"Hey," Natsu replies, his voice going soft. Lucy had that effect on Natsu, making him turn to jelly, something his friends often teased him about.

Lucy flashes the girls a 'don't mind me, I'll be quick' look and apologizes sincerely, "Sorry for interrupting your lunch, you guys. But I have to ask Natsu something."

"It's cool." Cana says, the first to speak up after the trio of girls subconsciously gawked at Lucy's appearance.

Lucy smiles at this then tells her boyfriend, "Natsu, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I can't make it to our Friday date, something came up. Can we reschedule it to this Saturday instead?" Lucy asks.

"Saturday?" Natsu repeats.

The table comes to a still with Lisanna staring wide-eyed and, Cana and Juvia holding their breaths. Breaking the Saturday tradition is _basically_ criminal in their group. It's a known fact that nothing comes between Natsu and Lisanna's special day spent together.

Natsu pauses for a second before looking at Lisanna as if silently asking her. Lisanna only shrugs but Natsu already knows the answer to this. So he shakes his head and tells Lucy, "Sorry, my Saturday's already full. I have this whole tradition thing with Lisanna. We started it when we were twelve."

"Oh," Lucy's face drops.

"But …" Natsu pauses, sliding his eyes from Lisanna and back to Lucy, "We can hang out this Sunday. We can hang out any day actually, besides Saturday."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Natsu nods and Lisanna subconsciously mirrors this.

Lucy smiles, "Thanks."

But something didn't sit well in Cana's stomach as she listened to this exchange.

* * *

"You go ask him,"

" _Oh my God_ , it's just a pen, Juvia. It's not a big deal." Cana says to Juvia, rolling her azure eyes.

"Juvia feel awkward talking to Natsu-san when he's around Lucy-san. It feels like Juvia's third-wheeling." Juvia confesses, shaking her head 'no' at the possibility of talking to Natsu.

"Ju –"

"I'll ask him." Lisanna jumps in before Cana and Juvia can bicker around the pen. Lisanna ask, "It's a fountain pen, right?"

Juvia nods. "It's Gray-sama's. Silver colour, it has Gray-sama's name engraved on it. Juvia really wants to give it back to him before our next class. She can't lose it, or rather, Juvia can't let Natsu lose it."

"Okay, I'll get it now. Don't stress, okay?" Lisanna says. Trying to keep Juvia's panic level at a minimum, Lisanna makes a swift step towards the couple's direction and opens her mouth greet her best friend and Lucy. "Hey, you guys!"

But Natsu and Lucy were so wrapped up in their conversation that they completely blanked out Lisanna's desperate wave.

"Natsu!" Lisanna calls, but she's only ignored again and the two end up walking past the group.

Juvia stares, bewild, she had half the mind to tackle Natsu and asks for that pen back. While Cana feels an unpleasant feeling sitting in her gut.

Cana doesn't hold tongue and asks, blunt as usual, "Did Natsu just blanked you, Lis?" And this was coming from the same boy who'd yell Lisanna's name out loud at the end of the hall just to get her to look at his direction.

"I … I guess?" Lisanna replies. That's the third time this week.

"Juvia's lost count the number of times that's happened this month." Juvia observed. "Natsu-san's blanked Juvia and Cana-san a few times too."

Lisanna pauses, face dropping, "… Yeah."

* * *

"You made it." Lisanna says, honestly surprised, as she sits at their usual booth at the _Yellow_ diner.

She stops fiddling with her hands. Is it bad that she started doubting him more and more as the weeks went by. At first, it was five minutes late then ten then fifteen. Last week it was half an hour.

Natsu gives Lisanna a funny look in response as he slips into the booth. "Of course, I did. Geez, Lissy, I know I'm always late but that doesn't mean you have to lose complete faith in me."

Lisanna's eyebrows pinch together and tries to hide her expression by picking up the menu and reading it. Not that she needs to, anyway. She always orders the same thing, even after trying the whole menu and new dishes that pops up every now and then.

Lisanna tells him, "That's not it."

"That's not what?" Natsu asks, concern written on his face. He's not that late, just … thirty-seven minutes. Okay, so this is his latest …

"Nothing." Lisanna chickens out.

Natsu's face softens. It almost mirrors the expression he makes when he's around Lucy. _Almost._ He says, "Hey, it's out last Saturday together to chillax before all the coursework and tests murders me. We won't get to spend time with each other until your birthday comes around so let's enjoy it, okay?"

Lisanna couldn't help but brighten a little by this. "Okay," She says.

* * *

 { I know you have your good side,  
I know you have,  
Even at your worst, you … you're not so bad }

* * *

"So?" Juvia asks, tapping her mechanical pencil on her notes.

It's Friday, after school time, the three are sitting at the very same diner. They're sitting at a booth with their textbooks taking up half the table and notes scattered. It's April, meaning essays are due, group projects are mandatory and finals are coming to kill them.

Lisanna shakes her head slowly. Locking her phone after she ends her call with Natsu. "He's not coming. He said he forgot and can't cancel his date with Lucy."

Juvia interjects, something she rarely does, being a shy and patient person. "But did Lisanna-san tell Natsu-san that –"

"I did." Lisanna answers in a small reply. "He said he was sorry so I ... let him off the hook."

Juvia gaps at Lisanna's words while Cana feels a feeling of irritation rise within her chest.

Cana smacks her palm on the table, making Lisanna jump, "You need to put your foot down, Lis! Natsu can't keep getting away with this stuff just because he's 'in love'! We can't keep letting Natsu blow us off like this! _You_ can't let Natsu blow _you_ off like this!"

"I'm fine with it." Lisanna lies and Cana calls out Lisanna's bluff.

The brunette shouts, "You're not!" Then packs her books and pencil case into her backpack and says, "And neither am I. Cana out."

Lisanna doesn't speak up when Cana leaves and neither does Juvia but the blue haired girl does add, "Sorry, Juvia can't allow this too. She'll leave now but ..." Juvia stands up, fiddling with the straps of her bookbag. "Juvia will try to calm Cana-san down and we'll talk again on Monday, okay?"

Lisanna nods slowly. "Okay."

But Juvia doesn't leave as immediately as Cana does so Lisanna squeezes out a low "I'm sorry" before Juvia can turn the other way.

"It's not your fault, Lisanna-san." Juvia says, offering an apologetic grin.

It makes Lisanna feel a little bit better. She believes in kind Juvia's words.

.

.

.

{ And I believe her, yeah, I believe her }

.

.

.

Juvia adds, "We're all just ... frustrated, that's all. Cana-san and Juvia just didn't expect Natsu-san to prioritize Lucy-san so much."

Lisanna's gaze slides to her necklace, she finds herself fiddling with it as she spoke, "Neither did I."

* * *

If Juvia thought she had lost count of the number of times Natsu had blanked out his friends before April came rolling around, then it was just twice as bad when essays and projects were due. Natsu kept disappearing and making excuses that he would go over to Lucy's.

"Studying," He says. But it felt more like he was ditching his friends and having make out sessions with Lucy.

And Lisanna will admit, she tried to make up all sorts of excuses and sometimes even forgot about the issue with the weight of Senior year. But when school finally ended and Summer rolled around, things just came crashing down. She had the realization that she really missed her best friend. Missed him loads. But it wasn't like she could do anything about it with Natsu being away at Clover Town to see his cousins.

The only a sliver of a hope she had now was to wait until Natsu came back somewhere before her birthday.

* * *

The Strauss family had the habit of sleeping early and waking up early. They took the term "The early bird gets the worm" to heart. So when Lisanna's blue eyes crack open before her eight AM alarm, she will admit, she felt like there was nothing to do.

Automatically moving, Lisanna picks up her phone and looks at the date – Wednesday, 27th of August, the middle of the heat wave that is Summer. Another mindless, lazy day. Days don't matter when it's Summer time.

Or so that's what Lisanna thought until her phone starts buzzing in her hand. And, no, it wasn't her alarming. It was Natsu. Natsu calling her at exactly eight AM on the dot.

Lisanna answers her phone excitedly. She hasn't talked to her best friend in ages. "Natsu, good morning! You're up early!"

Lisanna hears Natsu laugh. "Morning. Can't say it's 'good' because I'm awake so damn early but I'm awake so that's a thing."

Lisanna smiles, clutching onto the phone. She's got so much to say. So much to ask. Natsu hasn't exactly been answering his texts as often as she likes. She wants to catch up. She wants to see him, meet up, act like how they use to –

"Listen," Natsu says, his voice dropping from its playful tone. "I woke up early because I wanted to say something to you."

"What is it?" Lisanna voice also stops its cheery tone.

Natsu pauses. Lisanna hears him sigh. He says, "I won't be able to come today."

Won't be able to come today? Come where? To the diner? To her house? Was it a Saturday? Lisanna swore the date told her it was a Wednesday. She immediately thinks of the worst-case scenario, not caring about the dates, despite being confused.

"Actually, I won't be able to make it on Saturday either." Natsu confesses.

Lisanna asks, "Are you still at Clover Town? Are you stuck?"

He answers, sounding lethargic, "No, I came back five days ago." – Five days ago? Why didn't Lisanna know this? She could have seen him sooner.

"Are you sick then? Are you feeling funny? Do you have a cold? Did you catch a bug when you were away? I can make you soup if you want." Lisanna offers, finding any excuse to see her best friend again.

"No, I'm perfectly fine, healthy. You don't have to do that."

"Then what is it?" Lisanna asks, a gut feeling tells her to brace for the worst. She didn't care that Natsu had cancelled on her. She didn't even recall that they had made plans. She just wanted Natsu to be okay and tell her what was on his mind.

And he does just that.

"I'm ... I'm at Lucy's. Uh, I ... slept over." Natsu says, sounding hesitant. "Actually, we ... _I_ did more than sleep over."

"You –"

Oh.

_Oh._

"Did you ..." Lisanna trails off, not knowing how to ask. "Did you and Lucy ..."

"Yeah, we did it." Comes a slow response. "I'm ... staying over some more to make sure Lucy's okay. It was both our first time so I want to make sure she's not in pain or anything."

"Oh," Lisanna says. She knows she sounds terribly depressed and not supportive, she can't hide it over the phone. Not knowing what else to say, she repeats herself, " _Oh_." Then she add, trying to lift the mood, "It's okay."

'You can make it up to me another time' she wants to add but Natsu beats her to the punch by saying a hurried, "I'll see you around."

Lisanna's spirit falters. " _Oh_." She says for the third time. "... okay."

"Thanks." Natsu replies. "Thank you for understanding."

He sounds so awkward talking to her – his best friend. Lisanna thinks it shouldn't be like this. They've known each other since they were eight. What was happening? Has ten years of friendship mean nothing to Natsu?

"Bye," He says then the line goes silent and the call ends.

But it wasn't the only thing that went silent. Lisanna does too.

She just sat there, trying to process everything, messy hair and all, staring at her phone. She didn't know what to do. It felt like that call was the end of their friendship. And soon the tears come flowing. Lisanna didn't think she could cry this hard in her entire life, she felt like the nerves in her mouth was going to snap from all the tension she was putting on.

She didn't pause once. Not to wipe away the tears from her blurry vision, not to breathe right, not even when her bedroom door flew open and her entire family stood there with cheery grins and chocolate cake with lighted candles and the _Happy Birthday_ song playing on their lips.

"Honey?" Mr Strauss calls, concern in his voice as he took the sight of his youngest daughter crying her heart out.

Mrs Strauss gasps, covering her mouth, while Elfman froze. Who _hurt_ her? Who hurt their Lisanna?

Mirajane passes the cake to her father and rushed to Lisanna's side, smothering her baby sister in a tight embrace.

"Lissy?" Mirajane voices softly.

Lisanna sniffs in response. "That's right ..." Lisanna says through tears, "... it's my birthday."

* * *

 { When you had the choice, you chose someone else }

* * *

"I'm not asking for Natsu to ditch Lucy or break-up with her or anything. I understand he's very much in love with her. I'm _glad_ he found someone who loves him as much as he loves her. But I just wished he talked to me." Lisanna confesses, holding herself tight.

Juvia reaches over, wiping a tear from Lisanna's cheek.

Lisanna bites her trembling lips, "I wish he would say 'Hi' to be in the hall, I wish he'd tell me about his day, even if it's for a minute because I miss him. I miss my best friend. I miss the way he smiles at me when he'd show me the stupidest cat memes and I miss how he shoves me back when I push him first and I even miss how he'd roll his eyes all sassily when doesn't agree with me."

Cana stays quiet, not knowing what to say as she too reaches out and holds Lisanna's hand, coaxing her to let her words flow and not bottle up her feelings.

"But, at the end of the day, I've realized that although I miss him, he doesn't miss me one bit."

* * *

 { You don't need a reason, this is not your fault, I don't wanna know }

* * *

"Lisanna-san, Natsu-san's here." Juvia's voice comes out as an almost whisper as she points to the said person across the café. It's December, the girls are now college students taking spending their Winter holiday together before returning to their respected colleges miles away from home.

"What?" Lisanna gaps, feeling the need to dive under the table. She's not ready. She hasn't seen him since … since …

She hasn't spoken to him since that call on her birthday. Lisanna just packed up her things, said good-bye to her friends that mattered then drove off to college.

"Who's Natsu?" Kinana asks, the newest (not a replacement to Natsu) member to their group. She befriended Lisanna at college and so happened to be living in the same place. They just never met because Magnolia is a big place and Kinana studied at the north part of Magnolia while the other studied east part.

Cana opens her mouth, reading to explain, "He's –"

"Lissy!"

And Lisanna freezes.

"Lissy, hi!" Natsu gasps before his signature wide grin spreads across his face. He looks like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. He goes in for a hug, not even noticing Lisanna's stiff movements and still hands that don't return the friendly embrace. "It's good to see you!"

Lisanna pauses, she lets out an awkward, "… You too."

.

.

.

{ "It's good to see you, so good to see you" }

.

.

.

"I feel like I haven't spoken in forever!" Natsu says, still exclaiming in excitement.

"That's because you haven't." Cana whispers lowly under her breath but one look at Juvia's meaningful stare sends Cana grumbling to herself and not out loud.

"Yeah …" Lisanna answers, still feeling awkward.

Natsu continues, "I have so much to say to you!"

" _Really?_ " Cana growls and Juvia elbows the girl in response to make her shut up. "Ouch!" Cana flinches but doesn't say more. She gets the message.

"Yeah," Lisanna repeats and lets out a strained chuckle.

"I have so many stories to share and things to tell! We should catch up! Hang out like old times, yeah?" Natsu says, like he's not the one who broke the tradition.

"Oh …" Lisanna voices.

Hidden from Natsu's view, Cana and Juvia exchanges a worried look before sending Lisanna signals that said 'do you need our help?'. The trio was familiar with the pink haired boy while Kinana was lost at the sudden tension that seemed to have flown over Natsu's head.

To him, nothing has changed. To him, Lisanna was still his best friend. They just happened to spend less time together, that's all.

.

.

.

{ And if I run into you in the same old bar, I'll say, "It's totally cool, I'm not hurt at all" }

.

.

.

Lisanna pauses, looking back at her friends, then looking back at Natsu.

"I'm sorry." Lisanna says, fiddling with her earring out of nervousness. It was the matching jewellery set Juvia and Natsu had given her on her sixteenth birthday. Miraculously, Lisanna still has the earrings but the necklace ... the chain broke and the pendant got lost somewhere. "I've got a lot on my plate. I'm not sure when I'll have time."

"I understand," Natsu says then gives her one more hug before bidding her good-bye as turns and exits out of the café.

"Who was that?" Kinana asks Lisanna, cocking her head.

Lisanna finds herself smiling into her coffee cup. She answers, "An old friend,"

* * *

 { I don't wanna meet you, I don't wanna talk 'cause I don't wanna know that nothing's changed at all }

* * *

  **end**

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, here's some angst I thought of during a shower.
> 
> I don't think I've ever written about breaking a friendship up in an angst way … have I? I can't remember. 
> 
> Also, I think I finally found a solution in shipping Nalu! See, I often fall for side-ships. So all I gotta do is write Nalu as a side-ship and maybe I'll slowly fall in love with them or maybe I'll just write that Nalu fic for Checkmate-13 in December and never return to the ship. Who knows?
> 
> – 22 April 2018


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